| We
Give You A “Road Map To College” |
This is an organized plan to help you successfully apply to colleges
and position your family to get financial aid. Each month, we
give you the guidance and tools to do exactly what you need to do at
just the right time. You don’t have to figure out the college
admissions and financial aid process on your own. Our “Road
Map” also eliminates the possibility of missed deadlines – which could
be the difference between achieving your goals or not. |
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| We
Have Your Student Complete An Interests & Skills Assessment*
Early On |
This is the basic foundation of our approach that leads to natural
achievement. The results of the assessment will point to
natural career goals and college majors. They will help your
student get into the right college, and help reduce your overall cost. |
*This step is not done for our senior students. |
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| We
Complete A College Search Including A Telephone Counseling Session With
You |
Experienced college admissions counselors search 4-year private and
public schools each year, and build a database of information regarding
each school’s expectations of their freshman class and its philosophy
about giving meaningful financial aid. Counselors then will
advise your family about the six to ten colleges that are most likely
to be a great fit for your student and give financial aid.
This is an excellent time-saver for you, and will also spare your
family needless frustration from applying to schools that will not be
attracted to your student or that are not forthcoming with meaningful
financial aid.
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SAT
And ACT Test Prep Courses
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We suggest each student look at both of these tests, taking at least
one of them twice. These are very prominent tests in the
admissions process, and it’s important to do well. Our online
course will help you understand the tests and give extensive
interactive attention, but only where it’s needed. That saves
you from wasting time studying what you already know.
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Scholarship
Search Coaching
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We use the system of a nationally-known expert who personally won more
than $90,000 in scholarships for himself. Although we can’t
guarantee that you personally will win any scholarships through this
program, it will help you find quality scholarship opportunities,
organize your scholarship search, and help your student write winning
applications for the scholarships he or she pursues.
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We
Give Recommendations To Reduce Your Expected Family Contribution (EFC)
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We also explain strategies so you do not raise your EFC. We
will show you how to take advantage of strategies that will reduce the
amount your family must pay for college, and maximize your financial
aid eligibility. These strategies are all legal and ethical,
much like your accountant will show you when he or she prepares your
tax returns.
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We
Create A Plan For You To Pay For College
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This plan is designed to be the most tax efficient as possible, and
make you as eligible for need and merit financial aid as possible.
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We
Help Your Student ‘Ace’ Their College Applications
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We use a twelve-step
program that coaches your student in:
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- Organizing their personal
college application plan
- Creating a powerful activity
resume
- Making productive campus visits
- Completing college
applications, including the personal essays
- Getting letters of
recommendation
- Preparing for campus interviews
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We
Complete The Free Application For Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) For You
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Don’t minimize the importance of this form! It must be
completed to qualify for most financial aid, including most student
loans. While you can do it yourself online, a recent Harvard
study concluded that the average person would spend about 10 hours
learning how to file the form, gather all of the needed materials, and
file it completely and correctly. We will also confirm the
accuracy of the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) computed with the
filing of the FAFSA form.
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We
Complete The Financial Aid Profile & Other School Financial
Forms For You
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The Financial Aid Profile is a more extensive financial picture of your
family than the FAFSA. For
example, it includes equity of your home and retirement accounts. It is
more complicated than the
FAFSA, yet its information needs to be consistent with the FAFSA you
file, too. In addition, some
schools have their own forms that need to be filed, such as business
supplement or divorce forms.
These vary by each college, and can be complicated.
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We
Provide A College Tracking List (CTL)
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This is a list to let you know what we are doing during your college
search and when. It gives you the dates when we anticipate
completing each step. We also will send you “Editorial
Letters” to educate you and your student throughout the entire process
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We
Direct All Award Negotiations On Your Behalf
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Will you know if you received a good award letter? We will
analyze each of the award letters you receive, to make sure that they
are correct and help you determine which awards are truly
meaningful. If needed, we will draft a letter to the
financial aid office on your behalf, and instruct you on how to go
forward with an award negotiation with the schools.
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Stafford
and PLUS Loan Counseling Sessions
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We will educate you about the different school loan options available
to you, if needed. We will also give you the costs of each
option, so that you can compare each alternative intelligently.
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| We
Provide Complete Customer Service |
This includes toll-free phone numbers for our non-local
affiliates. Our well-educated staff is available to give you
advice on any situation during the college planning process. |
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